Osceola hopes sidewalk effort finds home somewhere

Some Chestnut Street residents will get same deal.

Some Chestnut Street residents will get same deal.

May 23, 2006|LARRY FORD Tribune Correspondent

Deal or no deal? That is essentially the question Osceola government will put to residents living on Chestnut Street as they try to save the sidewalk replacement program that stirred interest in just a few residents living in another part of town. A few weeks ago, officials announced that only eight of 19 households in the first two blocks of North Olive Street said they were interested in the program in which the town would pay 80 percent of the cost of removing old sidewalks and installing new ones. Residents would have to pay the remaining 20 percent. At a meeting last week, officials announced they will make the same offer to residents living on Chestnut Street from the railroad tracks south to Adams Street. The Town Council asked Clerk-Treasurer Robert Mark to send a letter to the residents of Chestnut Street to gauge interest in the program. Town officials previously said at least 60 percent of residents need to participate in order to make the program cost effective. The town is prepared to spend up to $30,000 on the program this year. Officials will know soon whether they will have to buy a new mowing tractor after an insurance adjuster decides whether it is wise to repair the old one, which recently was damaged by vandals. Earlier this month, vandals broke into a storage building at Fern Hunsberger Park, where the John Deere mower has been stored for years. During previous break-ins, the mower had not been damaged. Because of not wanting to wait until the next meeting to approve the purchase of a new mower if the old one can't be repaired, council members approved the purchase of a new John Deere commercial mower for $5,861, so mowing of the park and other town properties can continue. The new mower might not cost the town anything because of replacement value insurance, Mark said. A new mower, however, will be stored in a more secure location, according to officials. Council members once again faced questions about the town's junk-vehicle ordinance from Steve Walters, owner of Penn Self Storage at 1104 Lincoln Way West. Walters took issue with the law after three of the vehicles on his property were tagged by the town because the vehicles were stored outside a building but weren't operable or licensed. Walters asked for an executive session with the council to discuss the town's ordinance, which he said does not state that it applies to a zoning area other than residential. He cited another storage operation in town which, according to Walters, is allowed to store unlicensed and inoperable vehicles outside its building. "Why does the law only apply to me and not to other properties?" Walters asked the council. "I disagree that it applies only to you," responded Jamie Woods, town attorney. "And I disagree that the code enforcer has been enforcing the law inappropriately throughout the town." Woods also reminded the council any meeting with Walters would have to be a public session since it was his opinion that discussion of the law with Walters did not fall under any of the exceptions allowed in Indiana for public bodies to meet in executive or secret session. Ron Nicodemus, zoning administrator/code enforcer, volunteered that he had not enforced the junk-vehicle ordinance on properties zoned "industrial," which allows outside storage, but had against Walters because his property is zoned "commercial." "That's my interpretation," Nicodemus continued. "I think (Walters has) a valid concern and I'd like to see more direction on it. If I'm wrong, let me know." Woods will look at the law again and report back to council members at the June 15 meeting, at which time they will discuss it again with Walters.